meeting.cash is designed to be the simplest way to track meeting costs in real-time. This guide walks you through every feature so you can start calculating meeting costs in seconds.

Getting Started: The Basics

When you open meeting.cash, you'll see a clean calculator interface with three main sections: attendee input, meeting controls, and the running cost display. There's no login required—just open the page and start tracking.

The calculator automatically starts tracking time as soon as you add attendees, showing you the cost accumulating in real-time. This immediate feedback is what makes meeting costs so visible and actionable.

Step 1: Adding Meeting Attendees

To track a meeting, you need to tell the calculator who's attending and what their time costs. There are two ways to add attendees:

Manual Entry: Enter the number of people and their hourly rate in the input fields. For example, if you have 5 engineers at $125/hour, enter "5" in the attendees field and "125" in the rate field, then click "Add." Each attendee group appears as a chip showing the count and rate.

Quick Presets: We provide three common meeting types based on industry salary averages. Click any preset button to instantly add that group to your meeting. This is the fastest way to get started.

You can mix and match presets with manual entries. For example, add the Engineering preset, then manually add 2 product managers at $95/hour. The calculator will track all groups simultaneously.

Step 2: How Costs Are Calculated

The calculation is straightforward: we take each person's hourly rate, divide by 60 to get cost per minute, multiply by the number of people in that group, then multiply by elapsed meeting time.

For example, if you have 5 engineers at $125/hour, the cost calculation is: ($125 ÷ 60) × 5 = $10.42 per minute for that group. If your meeting has multiple groups, we sum all the per-minute costs.

The display updates every second, showing the total cost climbing in real-time. You'll also see the total number of attendees and a breakdown of cost per attendee group if you click to expand details.

Step 3: Meeting Controls

The calculator automatically starts tracking time when you add your first attendee. You have three control options:

• Pause/Resume: Pause the timer if the meeting is on hold or taking a break. The accumulated cost freezes until you resume.
• Reset: Clear all attendees and start fresh for a new meeting. This doesn't delete your meeting history.
• Share: Generate a shareable summary of the meeting cost. On mobile devices, this uses the native share function; on desktop, it copies a formatted summary to your clipboard.

Step 4: Using the Backdate Feature

Sometimes you realize mid-meeting that you should be tracking the cost, but the meeting already started 15 minutes ago. That's where the backdate feature comes in.

Click the "Backdate" option in the meeting controls, enter how many minutes ago the meeting started, and the calculator will adjust the accumulated cost accordingly. This ensures you capture the full cost even if you didn't start tracking immediately.

Understanding Hourly Rates

The accuracy of your meeting cost depends entirely on using realistic hourly rates. Here's how to calculate them:

Basic calculation: Take the person's annual salary and divide by 2,080 (the standard number of working hours per year). For example, someone earning $104,000/year costs approximately $50/hour.

Including overhead: For a more accurate picture, add benefits, taxes, and overhead. A common multiplier is 1.4x to 1.5x the base salary. So that $50/hour person actually costs the company $70-75/hour when you include healthcare, 401k match, office space, equipment, etc.

Best Practices for Accurate Tracking

To get the most value from meeting.cash, follow these guidelines:

1. Start tracking before the meeting: Open the calculator, add attendees, and let it run from the scheduled start time. This captures late arrivals and pre-meeting small talk.
2. Use realistic rates: Include overhead costs, not just base salaries. This gives you the true cost to the company.
3. Track who's actually there: Don't add people who declined or no-showed. Only count active participants.
4. Account for preparation time: If a meeting requires 30 minutes of prep from each attendee, track that separately as another "meeting."
5. Keep a meeting log: Take note of which meetings cost what. Patterns will emerge quickly.

Tracking Recurring Meetings

While meeting.cash doesn't have built-in recurring meeting tracking, you can easily calculate annual costs for regular meetings:

Track one instance of your recurring meeting to get the per-meeting cost. Then multiply by frequency. A weekly 30-minute standup that costs $150 per meeting costs $7,800 per year (52 weeks × $150). That number usually surprises people.

For meetings that happen multiple times per week, the costs compound fast. A daily 15-minute sync at $75 per meeting runs $19,500 annually (260 working days × $75). These calculations are eye-opening and often drive real change in meeting culture.

Visual Walkthrough: Typical Usage

Here's how a typical meeting tracking session works:

1. Open meeting.cash on your phone or laptop just before your meeting starts
2. Click the "Engineering" preset button (5 people, $125/hour)
3. Manually add 1 product manager at $95/hour
4. Watch the cost display start counting up in real-time
5. At the 30-minute mark, you see the meeting has cost $406.50
6. Click "Share" to send the summary to your team Slack channel
7. Click "Reset" to prepare for the next meeting

The entire process takes less than 10 seconds to set up, and the real-time cost display keeps everyone conscious of time throughout the meeting.

Privacy and Data Storage

All meeting data stays in your browser's local storage. We don't send meeting details, attendee counts, or rates to any server. The calculator works entirely offline once the page loads.

Your meeting history is saved locally so you can reference past meetings, but it never leaves your device. Clear your browser data to erase all meeting history. See our Privacy Policy for complete details.